Neglecting Emotions
by angel-death-dealer
Summary: He tried distancing himself to stop her getting hurt, but found that he hurt her even more than the Others ever could by doing that. JackKate. Season 3 spoilers.


**Another one-shot based on a dyojs I did over at lost-forum. Juliet is the £""" from Season 3 (spoiler), that seems to replace Ana-Lucia in our jater books. When Laura told me that there's gonna be a new romantic interest for Jack, I just flipped, and when I got onto my PC, the Juliet bashing had begun already hehe. Anyway, thats who she is, and that's why Kate hates her in this. I hope you enjoy it!  
Sam  
xxxx

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**

He'd been a jerk. A real jerk. He was more than a jerk. He was a ...mega jerk. It was all his fault that neither of them were talking to him. He had to set one of those right.

He'd been close with Juliet for a while, another survivor on the beach who had near enough thrown herself on him recently. Because he had responded to some extend, enough for Juliet to believe that they were a couple, he had jeapoardised his friendship with Kate - and that meant a lot more to him than any relationship.

It all started when they returned from captivity. Kate had grown increasingly closer to Sawyer after Jack shunned her. He hadn't exactly shunned her, more...kindly ignored her, if there were such a thing. The Others had told him that if anything went wrong, they would hurt the person closest to him...and immediately their thoughts had gone to Kate.

Kate, who had sewn his back up on their first day on the island.

Kate, who always thought of others before herself.

Kate, who trusted him more than anyone else.

Kate, who he had been madly in love with since the moment her lips first touched his.

Now, however, he didn't have her, not in the slightest. Because he was scared that the Others would use her against him, to taunt him, to tease him to hurt him, he tried to stop caring for her by backing away. This hadn't worked. The more he had backed away, the more he had to see that hurt look on her face that told him he was doing the wrong thing. So he had done the worst possible thing. He needed to make her stop caring for him, so that she wasn't at threat from the Others.

So when Juliet had kissed him, he had kissed her back.

And Kate had seen it.

He hadn't known until later on that she had seen it. It was Claire, his newly-found baby sister that had told him. He had to endure the guilt trip that Claire gave him about how she had found her sitting alone in the bathroom of the hatch, fully dressed under the running shower, sobbing her heart out. He heard how Claire had her in her tent ever since, making sure that she was eating and drinking still. When he went to Claire's tent to apologize, he overheard her talking to Sun, her angry voice screaming that she never wanted to see him again.

That had been the breaking point. He hadn't quite been the same since, even around Juliet. Juliet had suggested that he accompany her on a walk the following evening, and he did, knowing now that he needed to get Kate completely out of his mind. When they had gone a little way into the jungle, Juliet made her attempts to seduce him, taking him to a well placed blanket in the middle of a clearing. She had planned a romantic evening with him. When she kissed him, and started to pull him down to the blanket, he knew that something was wrong. It wasn't until she started to pull his t-shirt over his head that he realised why:

This was something he wanted to share with Kate, not Juliet. So he had tried to calmly explain to Juliet that this wasn't what he wanted - there was no point leading her on. She had flipped out, insisting that he was building her up and then dropping her like trash, but she too knew that it was because of a certain freckles brunette that he could never get off his mind.

The rest of the night, he had stayed out in the jungle, trying to clear his head, before heading back to the caves around midnight. It had started to rain, and he was thankful for the shelter of the cave with all the medical supplies in. And the next morning, he headed down to the beach - he had to clear things over with Kate.

He spotted her, sitting a little way down the beach, and started over to her. All of a sudden, a hand on his shoulder stopped him, pulling him back.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Claire asked him, turning him to face her.

"To see Kate." He said simply. After all, she was his younger sister, he didn't understand where she thought she needed to have authority over him.

"Oh no you don't." She said, half laughing at his 'ridiculous' idea.

"Claire, you're not my mother." He told her, trying to walk on, she let go of his arm.

"No, I'm your sister." She reminded him. "And Kate's your friend, not just your bit of entertainment, Jack."

He turned back to her, her words stinging. "What?" Kate was't just entertainment.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing to her?" She asked him.

"I'm not doing anything to her." He said innocently, even though he knew otherwise.

"She really cares about you, Jack, and you're just messing her around-"

"I'm not messing-"

"Yes you are." She said harshly, and looked over in Kate's direction. Jack followed her gaze at where his brunette beauty sat before the waves. Her legs were drawn up to her chest, with her head resting on her arms, not watching the waves as she usually did. "She's been sitting over there ever since the sun came up ... yesterday."

Yesterday? "She's been out here all night?" Jack questioned.

Claire nodded. "Yeah. No one could get her to move."

"But, it was raining over the caves last night." He remembered.

Claire nodded, half shrugging. "It was raining here as well."

Realisation dawned on him. It had been raining for hours. "You mean, she sat out in the rain all night?"

Claire nodded, again. "Where were you, Jack?" She asked him quietly. "If you'd been here like you normally were, just to say goodnight to her, she would have moved. She would have gone to bed."

Jack looked back at her. "Has she eaten anything? Drank anything?" He checked, going into doctor mode.

"Eaten? Not for two days. Drank anything? Anything other than the three bottles of Vodka she stole from Sawyer yesterday morning? No." Claire said, shaking her head.

"Oh my god." Jack murmered into his hands, and took off across the beach towards Kate.

He ran until he was a short distance away from her, and not once did she look up to adknowledge his presense. Even when he slowed, and sat down in the sand beside her, she didn't show that she noticed him there. He leaned sideways nudging her shoulder ever so gently, and she raised her head from his arms, so he got a good look at her face.

It was bone pale, a greyish-yellow tint colouring it only slightly. Her eyes were bloodshot, squinting in the sun that escaped into them when she raised her eyes. She saw that it was him, glared, and then returned her head to where it had been leaning on her arms.

"What do you want?" She asked bitterly.

What did he want? He wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her senseless. "I want to know what on Earth you were thinking spending the night out in the rain, drunk, not eating, not sleeping." She looked up at him again, this time holding his gaze. "What's happening, Kate?" He asked her softly.

"Why do you care?" She asked him, just as emotionless as before.

"Because I do." He said simply. He reached out to feel her forehead now that she had lifted it, but she shrugged him off, returning her head to her arms yet again. "Kate-"

"Just leave me alone, Jack." She told him bluntly.

"Kate, you're going to end up seriously ill by doing this to yourself, if you haven't already." He told her. Way to go Jack, he thought, install some hope in your patients. But Kate wasn't his patient, and he was suddenly realising why doctors weren't allowed to treat family and friends - because you cared too damn much.

"Good." She announced. "Then I don't have to put up with this much longer."

"With what?" He asked her.

"Watching you and your new girlfriend prancing up and down the beach, all over ech other, giving each other special best-friend looks..." He realised that she was talking about Juliet. "I'm not stupid, jack." She told him.

"She's not my girlfriend, Kate." She made a sound that sounded a lot like 'pft!'. "And she's certainly not my best friend - that person's always been you."

"Doesn't look like it anymore." She mumbled. "You're always with her."

_Because I don't want you to get hurt, Kate. I couldn't bear it if they used you against me. _"I'm not with her now." He pointed out. She looked up, and glanced around them, realising for the first time that Juliet wasn't standing ten feet behind him waiting to take him away. "I'm not with Juliet, Kate." He told her. "The only thing I am to her is the guy that she hates."

"Why does she hate you?" Kate asked curiously.

"Because I'd rather be with you." He answered honestly.

Kate gave him a smile - a small one, but a genuine one at that. And excluding the fact that her face was pale and her eyes were puffy and bloodshot, she looked beautiful. Her beauty soon gave way to the sickness she had given herself, however, and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head. Jack reached out to steady her as she fell, and she collapsed into his lap.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed as she landed against him in a dead faint. "Kate! Kate, wake up!" He said.

Her eyes fluttered open again, and he let out a sigh of relief. "I don't feel too good..." She murmered up at him.

"Come on, we need to get you out of the sun." He said, helping her to sit up. "You need to lie down."

She wavered for a moment when she sat up, and Jack's hands shot out to steady her again. She seemed to forget that she was mad at him twenty seconds ago, and allowed him to help her. He knew that she must feel like death if she was giving into his help so easily. "I don't think I can walk." She realised slowly, her voice weak.

"You don't need to." He assured her, and moved so that he could place one arm around her back, and the other beneath her knees. Effortlessly, he lifted her light frame into his arms, finding himself worrying about her weight. She was way too skinny, she needed to eat more.

He carried her over to her shelter, which was just up the beach from where she had been sitting, but showed no sign of being used for a while. He lay her atop the blanket on the airplane chairs she had used for a bed, and took some water out of his bag. Going back to her, he leaned over her.

"Here, drink this." He tempted her, lifting the bottle to the lips that he could still remember the feel of against his. Kate shook her head, turning away from the bottle. "Kate, you have to, please..." He asked her, his voice less demanding and more compassionate now. She accepted the water this time. "Good, that's good." He whispered comfortingly.

She pulled back from the bottle and lay down again, watching Jack put the bottle down in the sand beside her. "Jack?"

"Yeah?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't-"

"You need to rest, Kate. Your body needs it." He cut her off, but smiling at her all the same, telling her not to worry about it.

"I just...I just felt replaced." She told him simply.

"Replaced?" He questioned, looking over at her with a strange glance, and understanding how she really felt about him spending time with Juliet. "Oh, Kate..."

"I guess I finally understood what if felt like for you when I was with Sawyer." She said quietly, avoiding his eyes, and fiddling with a loose string on the bottom of her shirt now that her strength was returning.

He smirked slightly. "Who says I felt anything when you were with Sawyer?" He tested.

"You were as jealous as hell. Everyone said so." She told him, still not meeting his gaze.

"So, you were jealous of Juliet?" He asked. She looked down, not shaking her head, which he took to mean 'yes' from her. He smiled, and raised her chin slightly so that she would meet his eyes. "Kate, you don't need to be jealous. You should know that you're my only girl here."

"Your girl?" She asked.

"Yeah. My girl."

"Not Juliet?"

"Not Juliet."

"Me?"

"You." He confirmed for the second time around, having to smile at how much Kate was making sure that she wasn't misinterpreting the situation.

"Why me?" She asked him.

It's not or never, Jack. "Because you're the only person here that I've completely fallen for." He admitted, seeing the smile cross Kate's lips, and all he wanted was to lean down and kiss her. "I'm sorry that I was with Juliet all the time." He told her. "It's just that...when the Others had us, they told me that if I did anything against them, they'd hurt you. I knew they'd be watching us, so I thought that if they saw me backing off from you, then they might not hurt you."

Kate nodded slowly, understanding that he was just backing away to stop the Others from hurting her. She should have realised - it was so typically Jack that she was amazed she hadn't seen it coming. "I'm sorry for overreacting." She said.

"It's okay." He smiled. "You're forgiven. One one condition."

"What's that?" She asked him.

He placed his hand back on her forehead, and felt her sigh. The skin there was tingling with heat against his palm. "You're burning up, and you've not eaten anything in two days." He pointed out. "You've gotta let me take care of you, Kate. No being stubborn. You're really sick."

The look of worry in his eyes moved her, but she wasn't giving up without a fight. "I'm not sick." She insisted, the last word coming out through a sneeze which fooled her plan. She let out a sigh. "Okay, I'm sick." She surrendered.

"Yeah, you're sick." He confirmed again, giving her a kiss on the forehead - his cool lips feeling like bliss against her warm forehead. "Are you going to let me take care of you, or not?" He asked her.

"You don't need to." She insisted. "I'll be fine in the morning."

He gave her the doctorly look. "If your fever breaks, which at the moment, it doesn't look like it will, then you'll be fine, but I'm not leaving you on a chance that it won't." Kate frowned, not enjoying the idea of being confined to best rest by Jack. "You know that I'm not going to leave your side whether you like it or not, right?"

She smirked. "Then this would be a really bad time to tell you that I have to pee, right?" She realised, an apologetic look crossing her face.

"It would." He nodded, not realising that she wasn't joking.

"I really do have to pee, Jack." She told him, and he shook his head with a laugh.

"Talk about timing, Kate." He mumbled.

He helped her to stand up, and then, once he was sure that she wasn't going to get light-headed again, he let her wander into the trees to have her privacy. He went over to his bag, taking out a rag and some more water to help bring her fever down, and then stood up, not noticing that Kate had come back into the tent. He was only aware of her being there when he felt two slender arms wrap around his waist from behind, and when Jack smiled and didn't move, she rested her read on his back, closing her eyes.

"Comfortable?" He asked her, enjoying the feeling of her body pressed up against his.

"You make a very good pillow." She mumbled, and for the first time, he was aware of the tiredness in her voice.

"When you haven't slept for days, anything's a good pillow." He pointes out. "Come on, in bed." He directed, and turned to embrace her before leading her towards the bed.

"Yes, mother." She said sarcastically.

"I'm taking care of you, remember." He reminded her.

"Always the doctor."

"And Doctor Jack says Kate goes to bed." He told her.

"Do I have to?" She asked him unfairly.

He gave her a look at he sat her down on the bed. "You're worse than a three-year-old. Yes, you have to." He told her.

"But it isn't dark yet." She said playfully, as a three-year-old would.

Jack crossed the tent, and dropped the part of the tarp which was doubling as a door, so that the sunlight was blocked from the tent. It wasn't that dark, as it was still broad daylight, and the sun was seeping in through the gaps in the tarpaulin tent. "Now it is." He told her, satisfied.

"Cheap shot." She told him, sounding grumpy.

"Kate, you're sick." He reminded her, when she still refused to lay down.

She looked up at him as he came closer to her. "And you're comfy." She told him, looking up at him with the puppy-dog eyes that melted him.

"Okay - drastic measures." He announced, and before he could protest, he lifted the blanket she was sitting on, and got underneath it, pulling her down beside him so that she was laying against him. "I'll suffer bedrest with you." He told her as she curled up to his embrace.

"If you're here, its not suffering." Kate told him sweetly.

He watched her, smiling softly at the ease in which she fit into his arms. He kissed the top of her head, stroking her hair whilst she lay with her head against his chest.

She let out a gentle sigh. "Jack...I think I might have fallen for you, too." She told him, and in response, he pulled his arms tighter around her, smiling. She let out a soft laugh.

"What's so funny?" He asked.

"I told you that I thought I was falling for you, and you hold me tighter." She pointed out. "What would you have done if I told you that I loved you?"

He took her chin in his hands, and raised her head so that he could see her face. "I would have done this." He told her, and before she could reply, he plunged his lips towards her, kissing her passionately. It wasn't long before Kate was responding to the kiss, and when they parted, their foreheads leaned against each others, both catching their breath. "And then I'd tell you that I loved you too."

Kate smirked. "Jack?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

So that was her game. He smirked back, and kissed her again, just like he said he would. This time, their kiss developed, hands started to roam, moans escaped them unwillingly, breathing became harder and harder as the fought to remain in the kiss for as long as possible. Soon, their legs intwined as their positions changed and Kate moved on top of him, but as soon as Kate realised this, he flipped them so taht she was lying beneath him, and slowly drew back from the kiss.

"Nuh uh," He told her. "Not until you're better."

"Hey! No fair!" She protested.

"Yes fair." He contradicted. "You want this, you get better." He told her. "And you'll get better sooner if you let me take care of you."

Kate nodded, still breathing hard. "Deal."

Jack smirked at her. "You gave up pretty quickly there." He realised.

She nodded. "That's because I've waited too long for this." She said, kissing him again, but slower this time. Both of them were in more control over their emotions, which they poured effortlessly into the kiss.

When they broke apart, Jack rolled back onto the bed, and pulled her close against him. "Kate?" She looked up at him. "I really do love you." He said, and smiling, Kate found it easier to sleep that night then she had ever done in her life.


End file.
